Near-Infrared Light-Triggered Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species and Induction of Local Hyperthermia from Indocyanine Green Encapsulated Mesoporous Silica-Coated Graphene Oxide for Colorectal Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Near-infrared (NIR) light-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) have widely been used for cancer treatment applications. However, a number of limitations (e.g., low NIR absorption capacity of photothermal agents, insufficient loading efficiency of photosensitive molecules) have hindered the widespread use of NIR-mediated cancer therapy. Therefore, we developed a mesoporous silica-coated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite that could provide a high encapsulation rate of indocyanine green (ICG) and enhance PTT/PDT efficiency in vitro and in vivo. The ICG-encapsulated nanocomposite not only enhances the photothermal effect but also generates a large number of tumor toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). By conjugation of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with folic acid (FA) as a tumor targeting moiety, we confirmed that ICG-encapsulated mesoporous silica (MS)-coated rGO nanocomposite (ICG@MS-rGO-FA) exhibited high colloidal stability and intracellular uptake in folate receptor-expressing CT-26 colorectal cancer cells. Upon NIR laser irradiation, this ICG@MS-rGO-FA nanocomposite induced the apoptosis of only CT-26 cells via enhanced PTT and PDT effects without any damage to normal cells. Furthermore, the ICG@MS-rGO-FA nanocomposite revealed satisfactory tumor targeting and biocompatibility in CT-26 tumor-bearing mice, thereby enhancing the therapeutic effects of PTT and PDT in vivo. Therefore, this tumor-targeted ICG@MS-rGO-FA nanocomposite shows a great potential for phototherapy applications.

Antioxidant, Enzyme, and H2O2-Triggered Melanoma Targeted Mesoporous Organo-Silica Nanocomposites for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

“…Furthermore, we conducted a live/dead assay to visualize the therapeutic efficacy of the melanoma cells via the NIR laser irradiation and nanocomposites ( Figure 7 B). In the control group, although a 808 nm NIR laser was irradiated to the B16F10 cells, a number of cells exhibited the green fluorescence, suggesting that only the NIR laser irradiation did not affect the cell viability [ 58 ]. In the B16F10 cells treated with the ID@MOS-Fc-CDHA nanocomposites without the NIR laser irradiation, some sporadic red fluorescence was observed, due to the chemo-therapeutic effect.…”

Multimodal Imaging and Phototherapy of Cancer and Bacterial Infection by Graphene and Related Nanocomposites

“…The effectiveness of tumor suppression can be explained by the synergistic effects of PTT from rGO and PDT from ICG. The experiments are performed using an 808 nm laser with 1 W/cm 2 for 10 min [ 97 ]. Irrespective of this progress, fluorescence-based techniques are still limited to the laboratory stage presumably due to the limitations of poor resolution, and because the drug molecules should be fluorescent.…”

“…Choi et al, Yang et al, Mirrahimi et al, Hong et al, Jia et al, Yang et al, Belu et al, and Lim et al demonstrated multimodal imaging (CLSM, MRI, CT, PET, PAI, RAMAN and ToF-SIMS) and multimodal therapies including chemo, gene, and PTs. Most of these researchers have also given tremendous efforts to improve the therapeutic capabilities by minimizing GNCs concentration, laser wavelengths from the first biological windows to the second biological window, and less laser powers and irradiation times [ 84 , 97 , 107 , 108 , 119 , 120 , 132 , 139 , 145 , 146 ]. Keshav et al, provided excellent pharmacokinetic data to take the material towards preclinical trials.…”

“…( G ) Time vs. temperature at tumor bearing mice. ( H ) Tumor volume after irradiation with laser up to 10 days [ 97 ]. Reprinted/adapted with permission from Refs.…”

Smart Nanoparticles for Breast Cancer Treatment Based on the Tumor Microenvironment

“…Under normal physiological conditions, ROS can be effectively neutralized by the enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, and thioredoxin to control the equilibrium oxidation-reduction (redox) state. However, when redox homeostasis is destroyed or relieved, changes in ROS levels will lead to physiological and pathological changes (61,62). In addition, ROS play a positive role in regulating intracellular signal transduction pathways, with numerous biological conduits being constrained by a variety of ROS species, which are the key to maintaining cellular homeostasis.…”